IP College wants accused students punished 'strictly'

It was a protest to keep the space to protest alive. More than 500 people - students and teachers of Indraprastha College and activists - held a demonstration at North Campus on Tuesday against the harassment of a faculty member by a group of students.

According to the teachers of IP College, the boys - about a dozen of them - were from Hindu College, Khalsa College, Ramjas College and Kirori Mal College. The teachers went to these colleges and handed over a representation to the principals demanding strict action against the students.

"The college complaints committee has been notified about the complaint and if our students are involved, strict action will certainly be taken against them. They will be suspended immediately though a much stricter action will also be contemplated," said Rajendra Prasad, principal of Ramjas College.

Principal of Hindu College, VK Srivastava, also promised strict action against the culprits.

The incident took place last Thursday on Hudson Lane, when a group of students started throwing water balloons at girls who were passing by. When Uma Gupta, associate professor of Hindi with IP College, protested, the group of boys, who are all students of the university, abused her and made obscene gestures at her.

"Protesting against harassment actually invites more rage from the culprits as they think it is their right to harass women. The right to protest against such actions has to be protected and this is what the protest was about," said Gupta.

"The attitude of the police officers who came in the PCR van was very unsupportive. They were questioning me instead of the culprits," she said.

Meanwhile, the police have registered a case of criminal intimidation and molestation against the students.

"We are also looking into the allegation of misbehaviour by the police officers," said, Meenu Choudhary, deputy commissioner of police (north-west).